Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 16.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 23,085 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 4,468 shares during the quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,701,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, January 12th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $200.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Northland Securities boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.97.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at $57,096,383.61. This trade represents a 28.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $166.95 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $182.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $192.32. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61. The stock has a market cap of $116.36 billion, a PE ratio of 105.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.75.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.56 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Key Headlines Impacting Palo Alto Networks

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Long-term bull case highlighted — several analyst/commentary pieces argue PANW remains a structural growth name in cybersecurity and a smart buy for long-term investors. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company growth deals and product momentum are cited as offsets to recent analyst cuts, reinforcing the view that near-term analyst noise may not derail multi-year growth. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Q2 preview: Zacks notes PANW is entering Q2 with mid?teen revenue growth expectations but flags decelerating ARR momentum and a premium valuation — a key focus for the upcoming print. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary: PANW recently dropped more than the broader market in intraday moves, reflecting short-term volatility ahead of earnings. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst price-target cuts: JPMorgan lowered its PANW target to $225, and other firms (Rosenblatt, BTIG) trimmed targets (Rosenblatt to $225; BTIG to $200), which reduces near-term upside expectations despite some firms maintaining “buy” ratings. Read More. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Deal and listing risk: reports say PANW plans a dual listing on the Tel?Aviv Stock Exchange after closing the ~$25B CyberArk acquisition — there’s short?term investor concern about integration complexity and political/geographic exposure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical/reputational risk: Reuters reports PANW opted not to publicly tie China to a recent global hacking campaign it exposed, citing fears of retaliation — this raises potential client, regulatory and reputation considerations. Read More.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next?generation firewalls as a core on?premises capability, alongside cloud?delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.